


Day Fifteen: Philip & Lukas

by claryherondale



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: Acceptance, Boyfriends, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Lights, Christmas Tree, Cold Weather, Coming Out, Fluff, Gay, LGBTQ Themes, Love, M/M, New York, No Smut, Self-Acceptance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:26:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8862715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claryherondale/pseuds/claryherondale
Summary: Day 15 of My 31 Favorite ShipsPhilip and Lukas look at the Christmas lights strung up on Gabe and Helen's house.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@sadiecandykane on instagram](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40sadiecandykane+on+instagram).



> I actually uploaded this before midnight, what? Just a little bit of Philip/Lukas fluff that happens around Christmas, which assumes that Eyewitness ends happily.
> 
> I am in no way prepared for the finale on Sunday.

Philip looked over at Lukas, watching how the Christmas lights strung on the front of Helen and Gabe’s house reflected onto his pale face. The green and blue held steadfast, glancing off of Lukas’s blond hair and warming his light eyes—bright like the sky in the morning or the sea during a cloudless day. Philip took Lukas’s hand, and the other boy gazed over at Philip with a smile. Since the moment they had met, Philip had thought Lukas had a beautiful smile. It was too infrequently on his lips, but when it was there, it made Philip’s stomach hurt, the kind of hurt that meant he was in love.

Lukas leaned over and pressed a kiss, feather soft, on his boyfriend’s sculpted cheekbone. Philip let go of Lukas’s hand and grasped the back of his neck gently, albeit with unmatched tenderness, and brought their lips together. They stood there, enveloped in each other, for a moment under the night sky. 

It wasn’t snowing yet, but the temperature was below freezing and the sky was full of thick, dark clouds. The two boys held one another tightly, their bodies twining together as though they were vines wrapping around and melding into the other. They grasped each other’s warmly clothed arms and backs, the frozen air of the farm just one more thing that they held each other away from.

Now that Kane was dead, things were better—but there was a lingering desperation every time they touched, as though Philip and Lukas weren’t quite sure that they would survive to kiss the other again. 

It was irrational now, but justified nonetheless. They were still recovering; this holiday was only another marking of the happiness they had now, only another step farther away from the time in which Kane was alive. There were ten days left until Christmas, but Helen and Gabe were enthusiastic about ensuring that they have the best first holiday season with their foster son and his boyfriend.

Philip parted from Lukas when he heard the front door to the house open, but Lukas kept his arm wrapped around his boyfriend’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry, boys, it’s just me,” said Gabe. “I’m not offended by a little PDA between teenagers in love. It’s pretty typical.”

In a small town like Tivoli, being gay was a bigger deal than Philip was used to in the city. It had been harder for Lukas to come out than it had been for Philip, but they were adjusting—the hype over it had died down. With Rose’s support, it was easier, especially in school. During all of this, Gabe and Helen had been their strongest help, mostly by normalizing the relationship. Because they knew—it was normal. This isn’t what set them apart from the others; what set them apart was the fact that they had been eyewitnesses to a triple homicide. 

Not only that, but Helen had also revealed to Philip and Lukas something only Gabe knew: that she was a part of the LGBTQ+ community, being bisexual. She was able to relate to them in that way, which bonded Philip with his foster mom more than before. 

“Sorry, Mr. Caldwell,” Lukas apologized.

“There’s no need to be sorry, and you know that you can call me Gabe.” He smiled at the boys. “Come on in—Helen made hot chocolate and she, well, bought cookies while she was in the city getting presents a few days ago. They’re pretty good, better than anything either of us could make.”

Lukas grinned. “I’ll only eat them if they’re shaped like—”

“Lukas!” Philip gasped, cutting his boyfriend off.

“Like Christmas trees. I was going to say like Christmas trees.”

Philip was grateful for Gabe’s sense of humor as he laughed it off and said, “Fortunately, they are shaped like Christmas trees. Surprisingly, Helen has gotten quite into the holiday spirit this year.”

The boys followed Gabe back inside, and they were immediately greeted by the comforting scent of hot chocolate and pine needles. Philip looked over at the tree in the living room, across from the couches, and smiled. Gabe had gifted Philip with an ornament that he himself had crafted about a week ago: it was a picture frame with a photograph that Gabe had insisted he take with Philip’s camera after they came out as boyfriends.

Philip loved it more than he would admit to anyone, and he noticed that Lukas kept stealing glances at it and then unconsciously squeezing his boyfriend’s hand a little bit tighter. He knew that Lukas was incredibly grateful for Gabe and Helen’s response to and acceptance of their relationship. He was happier than he’d admit to Philip’s foster parents that they were treating it with such extreme enthusiasm, like they’d do with Philip and any girlfriend he may have had in another life. It just served to make Lukas more confident in publicly proclaiming his love for Philip. And it made Philip feel more like he was a welcome part of their family.

The boys sat down at the table with Helen and Gabe, and they talked about Christmas and the coming year while they drank their hot chocolate and ate cookies. This, right here, was the life that Philip and Lukas both deserved. And they were beginning to believe it.

“Lukas, you know your father is welcome here on Christmas as well,” Helen said.

Lukas smiled a little bit. Mr. Waldenbeck had become much more accepting in the recent months of the fact that his son was gay. The danger of the situation they had been present in significantly dulled Mr. Waldenbeck’s homophobia. Because his child had nearly been killed. His child had been shot, had been in a coma. Things like sexuality and its outdated stigma seemed somewhat trivial after nearly losing Lukas. It was still difficult for him to transition into a life where his son was in love with a boy, but he cared less than he would have beforehand. And now that the first wave of reactions was over, it was much calmer.

“I think he’d like that,” said Lukas.

“Good,” Gabe said. “We’re looking forward to it.”

Philip reached for Lukas’s hand under the table, and their fingers interwove together between them. 

Philip saw Lukas look down at their locked hands as he said, “I’m looking forward to it, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hint for tomorrow's ship:  
> yellow & blue post-its


End file.
